UNESCO slams Barrier Reef dumping plans

UNESCO has condemned the Australian government’s approval of dumping dredged sand and mud in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The UN body warned that if the plan is not revised, the Reef's World Heritage status could be downgraded.

The decision to allow three million cubic meters
of dredge waste to be disposed of in the Barrier Reef was made in
January by an Australian government agency overseeing the area.
The waste comes from the earlier approved expansion of the
country’s port of Abbot Point – to make way for extensive coal
shipments.

In its first comment on the issue, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
expressed “concern” and “regret” at the
decision, which it believes was premature. It was taken before a
thorough analysis of the impact it might have on the World
Heritage site.

“Indeed, this was approved, despite an indication that less
impacting disposal alternatives may exist,’’ UNESCO said on
Thursday in a draft report on the reef's World Heritage status to
the World Heritage Committee.

The body has urged the government to reconsider the dumping plan
and in case it proves to be the least damaging option, submit
evidence proving the point.

UNESCO has on the whole noted “serious decline in the
condition of the Great Barrier Reef, including in coral
recruitment and reef-building across extensive parts of the
property."

It expects Australia to come up with a new report on its efforts
for preserving the Great Barrier Reef by February 1, 2015. If
that one fails to convince the UN body that the country is doing
enough in challenging the World Heritage site’s deterioration,
the Great Barrier Reef could be placed on an “in Danger”
list, the draft report warns.

The UN body’s criticism of the dredge waste dumping plan has been
welcome by environmentalists.

"UNESCO'S concern is shared by thousands of Australians and
hundreds of leading scientists, and we call on the federal
government to ban dumping of dredge in the Great Barrier Reef
World Heritage area prior to the World Heritage Committee meeting
in June," WWF Australia spokesman, Richard Leck, said in a
statement.

Government officials, both federal and those in Queensland (where
the controversial port expansion is to take place) have produced
optimistic comments on the UNESCO report, saying that they will
not allow the downgrading of the Reef.

"I'm very confident that between the work we're doing as a
state and the work we're doing with our federal counterparts, we
will not see the Reef listed 'in danger'," Queensland's
Environment Minister Andrew Powell said, as cited by ABC.

Once implemented, the project for the creation of a
multi-billion-dollar coal port near the Great Barrier Reef would
allow for yearly exports of 120 million tons of coal.

This has also been a matter of concern for environmentalists, who
have criticized the project for doubling shipping traffic in the
area.

UNESCO declared the Great Barrier Reef a World Heritage site in
1981. The area, covering some 350,000 square kilometers, is
nearly the size of the US state of Montana. It is home to over
2,000 fish species, with new ones being discovered each year.
There are also around 4,000 species of coral in the area.